Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-12-30

> L l., :
side by side kemper prophesied that he
would die in battle The message was to
remind me of that prophecy and to say
II had fallen true. never saw Lee so
overcome As he was that night. He was
man of wonderful equanimity and rarely
lost his calmness. At Charlottesville
once, when our side had lost ground. he
became excited and wanted to lead Will
cox's division into the fight. The men
refused to charge until he retired to the
rear. But when he spoke to me. in the
dead OF that night, of PiCkett's grand
charge every muscle in hin body Quivered
The charge failed, undoubtedly, through
the shortening of LOugstreet, who was
Jealous of his superior and did not carry
cut his orders, l think, as he should have
done. Gen. Lee told me he was about to
lntrust the wagon train and all his wound
ed TO me. He would send me additional
artillery, but could spare no more men.
He ordered me emphatically to keep the
column going at all hazards, and warned
me that would probably be attacked. |
had about 2,l00 men, all mounted, com
mGnd had raised myself around my
home IN the mountains of Virginia. All
were hardy mOuntaineers. There were
about 900 wagons, 10000 horses, and
1000 wounded men. 1 stationed com
panies of my cavalry about every quarter
mile thrOugk Out the train, every fourth
body being more numerous and carrying
artillery.
I'm the van, where l expected to meet
most opposition, placed my brother,
Col. lmboden, with quite large force of
the 18th Virginia cavalry. fully realized
that to lose the supply wagons meant
ruin to the army, and, fearing to leave
even the details of arrangements to my
staff, l stayed in Gettysburg until the
whole train was in motion to see that my
orders were exactly carried out The
column extended seventeen miles. At
1 o'clock in the afternoon of July 4, ia
drenching rain, started with my staff,
about six in number, to gallOp to the
head of the train. | have served in plenty
of battles, but never be fore had | realized
the horrors of war as | did that night
From every wagon We passed came the
the cries, shrieks, and means of the
wounded. Gen. Lee had kept alisthe reg
ular ambulances for use with the able
bodied men in the contingency ofanother
battle, and not a wagon had springs
Many had not even straw. In places the
road was rocky, and the men were jolted
frightfully every moment. Some swore,
some prayed in an agoDizing voice for a
stop that l could never order.
$50 narrow was the road that in places
the legs of our horses were bruised by the
wagon-wheels. On either side, as we'll as
l could judge, were dense woods. The
darkness was so intense that mainly the
instinct of the horses enabled US to keep
tho road Nc q
in violence so that we could not hear each
others voices, again the cries of the
wounded would drown them. But advance
we must, and L ordered the men as 1
passed along to abandon and throw aside
any wagon that became disabled, so as
not to delay the others. My brother in
the van had instructions to charge and
drive forward at ali cost any force en-
countered
'The road led up the east face of South
mountain and over the brow. The de-
scent on the other side was extremely rug
ged. The rain continued to descend in
torrents until daJ-break. The noun
tain streams were rivers which had to be
forded. In other places the mud was
knee deep. The horses struggled through
it almost to their bellies, and several
times the escort had to help in extricat-
ing cannon mirod nearly to the hub.
Among the wounded | had two generals,
Series and Pender. The former is now
governor of North Carolina. Pender was
killed little later at Winchester. These
two were near the kead of the train. Ex-
cept them | had no officers higher than a
colonel. Starting by tho Chambersburg
road. we presently fanked it and led off
TO the left along q country by-road. About
midnight, while riding with my
staff, was taken with a congestive chill,
brought on, l think, as much by the hor-
rOrs L had undergone as the exposure.
Ny staff shouted for doctor, and one
soon came up. Fortunately one of the
men stumbled upon farm house about
that time. l could not keep my saddle.
They took me into the house, and the
doctor injected morphia into an arm.
Then | was put on horseback again and
hurried forward through hsdarkness and
rain to an ambulance near the trout of
the line. In that l lay down while the
doctor kept watch beside me. I awoke
early in the morning from kind of stu
por to hear the sound of near firing.
jump ped to my feet and looked out. A
body of northern cavalry were attacking
ID6 Train EOG Il sUCHS Throw OH. some
of the men had stamPeded, but my black
servant, steady as rock, stood waiting
with my horse at the side of the wagon,
bride in hand. a howitzer company
passed at run, with their gun. / yelled
to them to stop, and made them load with
canister. Looking up the road [ saw my
brother coming on the gallop at the head
of his 18th Virginia regiment. We bag
Lol
were killed; none escaped.
Through the morning of the 5th we
met several such attacks as that from the
side. My van met no resistance. When
at last We reached Williamsport I took
possession of the town and turned it in
to a hosp1taI. 7 he members of my com
mand were thoroughly exhausted. The
plight of the wounded was horrible when
we came to lift them from the wagons.
without the strength to help themselves
and with no one else to look out for them,
the shaking of the ride had thrown them
into cramped attitudes, so that they lay
doubled up. number had died and stifen-
ed in those attitudes. All were drenched
TO the skin. Here and there bones, dislo-
Gated during the night, protruded from
the skin of the thigh or the skull. Those
who lived had not been fed for many
hours. All the doctors l had with me at
once went to work and did what they
could for them. Before l left Gettysburg
Gen. Lee gave me packet, which he in
structed me to send forward to Mr.. Davis
with all possible dispatch. This note l
had borna through all the horrors of the
night sewn inside the left breast of ny
coat. l now detailed an officer to carryit
to its destination, giving him all neces-
sary authority TO impress horses when his
own gave ont. l have since learned that
it was private preliminary report on
the Gettysburg conflict, expressing Lees
opinion that it was drawn battle, and
announcing his intention of Withdraw
ing his army again to Virginia
Sen Lee afterward showed his appre-
citation of my conduct OF the train b.
rutting me in charge of the East Valley
district, position that was assigned but
once or twice during the var"
Gen. Inboden said that he vas still liv-
ing IN the Virginia mountains, about
three hundred miles beyoud his cid home.
He is now employed in developing the
mining AID other resources of the coun-
t-y. Last September, by invitation, he
visited the region where he had raised his
hardy command. and at Ronaey and
elsewhere be met seven hundred OF the
survivors.